


Admire

by JazzRaft



Series: The Pious and the Profane [6]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Lazy Mornings, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oracle!Noctis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-18 02:55:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11282316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JazzRaft/pseuds/JazzRaft
Summary: The Oracle awakens to a dream.





	Admire

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CkyKing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CkyKing/gifts).



> quick giftfic for @ckyking for surviving a successful exam season!

He was lured from his dreams by the sunlight warming his eyes and the gentle sting of shallots at his nose. A musical sizzle of cooking oil conducted the aromatics across the wide suite to tease him out of bed. Noctis fought his way up and into a sitting position, turning the heels of his palms against his eyes to encourage them into staying open. He blinked towards the little orchestra in the kitchen, a feature of the suite that he had failed to abuse since arriving in Altissia.

Nyx was making better use of it than he ever would have. Noctis watched the blurred lines of his knight’s back come into focus the longer his eyes stayed open. He watched arms, built to hurl daggers and drive through bone, brace gently to stir through a pan and pinch in some salt. He listened to the hidden notes of his breath beneath the chatter of warming garlic. He felt the easy concentration of his thoughts when he touched on Nyx’s link, feeling the bonding magic bloom open between the lines of ink on his back.

“Hoped you might have slept in a little longer.” The beads in Nyx’s hair clicked in laughter with the tease in his voice as he shook his head. “Couldn’t get me out of a bed like that.”

He tossed a smile at Noctis. The Oracle reined in their link before his feelings on that statement could carry over to Nyx. The luxury of the bed would serve a better purpose than comfort, if it could keep Nyx in it. If only Noctis would let it take him beneath the covers to hold them both forever.

“You can have it,” Noctis offered, smiling back. “A little too roomy for my tastes.” _A little too lonely._

“As picky a sleeper as you are an eater.”

Noctis could see Nyx rolling his eyes, even when the man wasn’t facing him. A short battle with the sheets tangled around his legs and Noctis managed to escape the over-stuffed bed. He picked his clothes into order – slid his shorts up his hips and tugged the sheer blue shirt the palace had gifted him down from where it bunched in the small of his back.

Noctis wasn’t in the custom of accepting extravagant gifts from the nobles which hosted him, but he made an exception for the shirt. If not only for the fact that his wardrobe was sorely sullied from the dusty journey across Lucis, if for the way Nyx tried to hide how he admired it on him. Noctis curled his lip beneath his teeth to cover his own response to the tight turn of Nyx’s focus back onto the frying pan. He tried to quell the heat in his stomach as he watched the deep lines of Nyx’s shoulder-blades tense beneath his shirt. And he tried not to feel the tiny rise in the magic flaring between them as he came closer.

“You haven’t cooked for me since we were kids,” Noctis said, sidling up to the counter beside Nyx. “Is it my birthday? Or are you having a regressive episode that I should be concerned about?”

Nyx snorted, cracking an egg from an open carton into a small glass bowl. Noctis folded his arms along the edge of the counter to watch him work. And watch the imperceptible strain in his neck as he tried to keep his eyes on the food.

“Been a long time since we had a proper kitchen at our disposal. Even longer since we’ve had a home-cooked meal. And given the nature of the beast you have to battle today, I would be remiss in my duty to you if I didn’t make sure you went with a strength-boosting breakfast.”

Noctis groaned, pressing his head against the marble counter-top. He’d traded blows with Titan, dodged barbs from the Emperor, survived the smolders of Insomnia, and the Infernian’s constant curse. None of his trials thus far had prepared him for the smartly-dressed demon that was Claudia Claustra.

Ceramic scraped across the counter-top, followed by the gurgle of water poured into it. He glanced up from the mess of his hair that the pillows had made to whimper happily at the cup of tea being prepared for him. A splash of milk, a spoonful of sugar. A cup as perfect as the man making it. Noctis warmed his fingers around the cup before their bond could warm instead.

“You’ll do fine,” Nyx assured him, pouring the whisked egg into the pan. “You always do.”

“Only because I have you,” Noctis murmured.

“And Cor.”

“And Aranea.”

Nyx raised his eyes skyward before agreeing in a petulant grumble, “And Aranea.”

Noctis smiled along the edge of his teacup. The eternal denial that Nyx bore even an iota of affection for the mercenary-made-knight never ceased to amuse Noctis. It was a fond distraction from the truth they’d both avoided. _I have you_.

Noctis watched Nyx finish in silence. He watched the little lilt in his chapped lips as Nyx prided himself over his creation. He watched his eyelids hood in his lazy focus towards a skill that had become second nature to him. He watched his broad arms, bronzed from long days in the sun, work and flex and haunt Noctis’s thoughts with ideas of curling his hands around them to guide Nyx over to the edge of the bed. He thought of what those arms might feel like if they were around his waist. If those roughened hands were around his wrists, pushing deep into the pillows aside his head.

Nyx’s eyes were like silver fireflies, winking down at him through dark lashes. He smiled, making the flecks of ink beneath his eyes lift and dance, waltzing with Noct’s own heartbeat.

“It’s not fine, Altissian dining,” Nyx said, maneuvering the finished omelet onto its plate. “But it’ll get you through the day better than a cup of noodles.”

Noctis batted his arm on Gladio’s behalf before following the steaming plate as Nyx delivered it back to the bed. Noctis faltered a step the closer Nyx moved to the massive piece of ornate furniture, pushing the thoughts in his head far, _far_ down before following after him.

“You know, there’s a perfectly good table, right over there,” Noctis reminded him.

“It’s breakfast-in-bed. Not breakfast-on-table.”

“Wouldn’t that just be breakfast?”

“Save the semantics for the secretary.”

Noctis obeyed the stern nod from his knight and set himself back onto the mattress, crossing his legs beneath him. He laughed at the flourish with which Nyx presented the plate to him, accepting the meal with a gracious bow of his head.

“Take your time to enjoy it,” Nyx advised, giving his shoulder a light squeeze before moving away from the bed.

If not for the teacup in one hand and the breakfast plate in the other, Noctis might have reached for him not to leave. He might have hooked his fingers around his wrist and tugged him back to his side. He might have pushed his hip against his, curled himself beneath his arm, and let the bed keep them.

Instead, he resolved to watch. As always. Admired from afar and dreamt up close.

The caffeine from the tea gave him the strength to stay awake. The flavors of the food gave him the strength to get dressed and walk the palace. But Nyx, standing there, always, just over his shoulder – his shadow and his soul – gave him the strength for everything else.


End file.
